


Even Awful Dreams Are Good Dreams (If You're Doing It Right)

by redstapler



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Bill Cipher is not kind, Canon Divergence - Weirdmageddon, Dead Mom Feels, F/M, G-rated Doppleganger Dubcon, Gen, Mabel Pines Is Here To Save Her Friends And Chew Bubblegum And She's All Out Of Bubblegum, Mabel's Bubble, Mindscape fuckery, The Power Of Mabel, This looks shippy but I promise you it isn't
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-17 13:52:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10595346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redstapler/pseuds/redstapler
Summary: The fate of the universe hangs on the resistance to temptation by a twelve year old boy.So basically, we're boned.





	1. Chapter 1

Bill settled himself comfortably on his throne, taking in the chaotic fruits of his labor. It had been a good day. Days? Time had ceased to mean anything in Gravity Falls. He was pretty proud of all that he’d wrought so far. Just as he was about to rouse his crew for another raid, a creature out of a child’s nightmare flew into the Fearamid and screeched news only he could understand. Bill’s eye whipped toward it.

“ _What?_ ” Bill couldn’t believe what he’d just heard.

Dipper had freed Mabel. The bubble had evaporated.

Bill didn’t understand. The simple brilliance, the devious _genius_ behind that plan! Humans were such vain, avaricious creatures. All you had to do was play to their egos and their ids, and they bent to your every whim.

“Everybody, keep doing what you’re doing. I have to go check on something.” No one paid him any attention, and merely continued their chaos. They didn’t even notice their leader was gone.

Bill teleported to his private quarters to study the surveillance from the Bubble. He couldn’t believe the moment that made everything fall apart.

Somehow Dipper Pines, a twelve year old boy of all creatures, had the will to resist his heart’s dearest wish.

Well, Bill was not about to stand for that. Or even float accommodatingly for it, either.

Since the chains on the bubble were broken, Bill could manipulate what happened within. And with Time Baby no longer in the picture this was a simple rewind and try again situation…

 

* * *

 

 

Wendy looked at Dipper with a smile and eyes full of promise. “I bet, if we ask Mabel, we could do it right now! In this place it could finally be just you and me. Come on, man! J u s t t a k e m y……”

The reality inside Mabel’s Bubble hiccuped and rewound.

Wendy looked at Dipper with a smile and eyes full of promise. “I bet, if we ask Mabel, we could do it right now! In this place it could finally be just you and me. Come on, man!” Impulsively, she leaned forward and kissed him, like she didn’t even worry about what personal taboo she could be crossing.

Dipper was startled at first, but quickly relaxed into the moment. Echoes of Great Uncle Ford’s praise for his cool head were overshadowed by his first kiss, and the realization of every dream that summer that hadn’t involved...Bill. Oh no. Was this Bill’s doing? Could he bring himself to resist?

This was the other moment he’d wished for all summer. Besides meeting the Author, and he’d already gotten that. What was the harm in a little completionism?

Wendy pulled back to focus on his neck, and all thoughts of potential dangers were gone.

 

* * *

 

 

Wendy Corduroy, the _real_ Wendy Corduroy, was having the time of her dang life. As she and her crew ran through the halls of the high school, she’d never felt so free. The building was entirely empty but for them and the Principal, whom they were currently stalking.

Wendy took point, while Nate and Lee flanked her, running through the connected classrooms as she strode the halls.

This was _so awesome._

She hoped Dipper and Soos were okay. She’d go find them as soon as they tracked down the Principal. Oddly, he kept managing to escape every time they cornered him.

He couldn’t evade them forever. Could he?

 

* * *

 

Mabel looked up from her knitting and realized that she hadn’t seen Dipper in a little while. Her actual brother, not Dippy Fresh, who was skating the halfpipe in the corner. He was really getting the hang of it, too!

But no, since she was happy enough to have Dipper back, she’d wanted to, you know, actually have Dipper back. That was the whole trouble that had started this mess. She finished her row and headed out of her tower. Clapping her hands, Giant Waddles appeared, as well as Craz and Xyler in their convertible.

“Hey Mabel!” They shouted in unison.

“Hi guys! Have you seen Dipper at all?”

“Yeah, we have!” Craz said.

“We’ll take you to him!” Xyler followed up.

“Excellent,” said Mabel, and she hoisted herself onto Waddles’ saddle, as Craz and Xyler drove away. “Follow that convertible!”

They took off in the direction of the park, arriving in time to see a very startling tableau. Mabel couldn’t quite believe her eyes-- was that really Dipper? Was that really Wendy? Whaaaaat? She hopped down from Waddles and walked to the edge of the road that wound through the park. Dipper and Wendy, still caught in their clinch, didn’t hear her approach.

“OH MY GOSH YOU GUYS WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING?”

The two jumped apart from each other, Dipper blushing madly, and Wendy looking like the cat who’d got the cream. Dipper was still having trouble composing himself as Wendy got up, dusted herself off, and made her way toward the road.

“Hey! What’s doing?”

“Don’t give me What’s Doing, Wendy! Did I really just see what I think I saw?

“You sure did!”

Mabel squinted her eyes and knew she had to tread carefully. A development like this would surely mean they’d all get to stay together, but she was sure this couldn’t be the real Wendy...could it?

“You’re not the real Wendy.” No sense in being coy.

“Sure am! Promise.” Wendy held up her right hand in a scout’s honor pose.

“What about chasing the principal at the high school?”

“Eh, that got old. I realized if I was going to be stuck in a paradise sphere for all eternity, I may as well go for a thing I wanted to do all summer.”

“You are _definitely_ not the real Wendy. I don’t believe it.”

Dipper had finally gotten to the road, and he was honestly a little relieved that Mabel was challenging this situation. For all that she knew this chance was something he wanted, she didn’t question lightly the things that happened in Mabeland . And if the Queen of Matchmaking and this Paradise Domain herself could be skeptical, he didn’t feel quite so ungrateful. But if Mabel was convinced, then he knew his plans with Wendy would be full steam ahead. He spoke up, giving Mabel the benefit of the doubt.

“Wendy, do or say something that would mean something to both of us that will prove you are the real deal.”

“I don’t appreciate your lack of confidence, dude, but here you go.” Wendy turned to Mabel, pulling her hair across her face and tucking it into her hat. “TESTOSTERONE.” Mabel gaped, but grimly nodded at Dipper. Wendy flipped her hair back loose and turned to Dipper, miming zipping her mouth and throwing away the key, giving him a slow smile as she did it. He nodded to Mabel. He also briefly wondered if getting a nosebleed from attraction was a real thing, or if it only happened in Soos’s animes.

“See! I’m the genuine article, Real Wendy. So what now, should we eat? I’m getting hungry.” Satisfied that the Wendy in front of them was actually Wendy, everyone agreed that going back to the castle for food was a good idea.

As Wendy and Dipper started towards the convertible, Waddles gave her a suspicious sniff.

No one saw him do it.

 

* * *

 

 

Wendy sat alone, crouched in the middle of the cafeteria setting a net trap. They were going to catch this guy if it was the last thing she did. Reality hiccuped, and suddenly she was in the library. Nate, Lee, and Tambry were crouched around a fire in the center of the room. She looked down and found she was mid-stroke in sharpening a yardstick into a spear. She looked at the knife in her hand, confused.

“Guys, wasn’t I just in the cafeteria?”

Tambry looked up from ripping pages out of books to add to the kindling pile “Nah,” she said, “We’ve been here for an hour at least. It started to get dark and you suggested we hunker down here for the night.”

Wendy frowned.

“That _does_ sound like something I’d say.” She didn’t feel super convinced, though. She was, however, starting to feel a little ripped off. For a paradise, this was some pretty thin wish fulfillment. If she’d wanted to stay huddled around a textbook fire, she wouldn’t have joined Dipper to look for Mabel in the first place.

Right about then, the school blinked out of existence, and her friends along with it.

Bright, warm sunshine flooded over Wendy as she realized she was sitting on a hill. The grass was green and sweet, and it felt like that first tinge of summer, right before school lets out.

Oh. Oh no. This wasn’t possible. And it definitely wasn’t any kind of paradise.

 

* * *

 

 

Bill hadn’t been out of his chambers since his Brilliant Rewind. Watching what was happening in Mable’s Bubble was entirely too entertaining. He hadn’t gotten to watch pure id manifestations like these in eons, and he’d forgotten how fun it was. He was especially enjoying how the more Dipper indulged in his fantasy, the more susceptible to it he became. Before much longer, Dipper would forget there was even a world outside Mabel’s Bubble.

When he checked on Red to see how her Wild Principal Chase was going, he suddenly realized that the manifestation was weak. Suspiciously weak. Almost like...oh _wow_ , had he underestimated Red! Bill wasn’t sure where these incredibly self-determined adolescents were coming from, but she’d almost thrown him off as well as Dipper originally had. The thing with the principal was just a ruse. That wasn’t her heart’s desire at all! Sure, it sounded like fun, but there were deeper thoughts going on. And curse her, she’d been able to keep him out of them. Well, that wouldn’t last for much longer.

Bill snaked through Wendy’s mind unnoticed until he found what he was looking for. Stan’s mind had been a guided museum compared to the labyrinth Wendy had built. The kid was good, Bill gave her that.

Turning down another passage, he found what he was looking for, and he couldn’t believe his eye.

The coolest, most emotionally detached teenager he’d ever encountered had a decidedly uncool, and very innocent desire.

He couldn’t wait to destroy her mind with it.

 

* * *

 

Back at Mabel’s tower, Dipper, Mabel, and Wendy were having dinner. Mabel was still trying to wrap her brain around Wendy’s sudden 180 about smooching her brother, but was honestly still focusing on the fact it meant he was _staying_. She put her pizza down thoughtfully.

“Dipper, you’re staying here with me, I guess, right?”

“Yes. Yes we are.”

“We?” Mabel glanced at Wendy.

“Yeah, uh, Dipper and I kinda wanted to talk to you about that.” Mabel braced for what could possibly come next. She didn’t think anything particularly bad was about to happen, just that no one started any feel-good conversations with “[we] wanted to talk.”

“Okay, what’s up?”

“Well, we were thinking that since we’re all going to be here together, we wanted to know if you’d be cool with Dipper aging himself up a little? It’d mostly be for my sake.” Mabel’s jaw dropped and she stared at her brother and their friend. “We know that you’re kind of freaked out about turning 13, but this would be great for everybody!”

Dipper picked up the sales pitch. “You get to stay 12, I get to be taller than Wendy,” (Wendy affectionately scoffed at this) “we all stay here forever! It’s win/win/win! What do you think?”

Mabel blinked a few more times, trying to get a handle on how she felt about this idea. On the one hand, she’d get to have Dipper with her, for real, and forever. On the other hand, they were twins, and she was the older twin! Giving up that bargaining chip, even just for appearances, was not something she was keen on. But, also, being older and being with Wendy were two of his heart’s greatest wishes. And wasn’t that what this entire wonderful place was all about? Mabel took a deep breath and looked at them both.

“Sure.” Mabel raised her hands and waved them in Dipper and Wendy's direction. "I grant you both the power to create your desires in this world."

A weird energy that sounded pink and felt like bubble gum enveloped them. The other side of the table erupted in whoops of joy, surprisingly loud for just two people. Dipper stood up.

“Well then, I have something to attend to. Ladies, please excuse me.” Dipper walked out of the room towards what Mabel realized would probably be the room he’d share with Wendy. Oh.

She realized this would be the last time she’d see her brother the way he truly was ever again.

“WOW, THIS GOT DARK. Craz! Xyler! Let’s get a rave going in the center of town, I’ll make my grand entrance when it’s in full swing! Wendy? Please excuse me, I’m going to dress for the party. I’ll see you there?”

“Absolutely! I wouldn’t miss it for anything! I’ll go get ready with Dipper, and we’ll meet you down in the square.”

“Great!” Mabel was sure if she sounded super enthusiastic, she’d start to feel that way soon enough. She left to go to her own room, Giant Waddles trailing behind her. No one was there to notice that alone in the dining hall, Wendy ceased to be.

 

* * *

 

 

The True Wendy Corduroy found herself in a sun dappled, birdsong filled nightmare.

“What is going on with this place? This isn’t paradise, this feels awful, make it stop!”

“Wendy. It’s a beautiful day, what are you saying?” Wendy’s blood froze in her veins. That was a voice she had finally accepted she would never hear again. Had sworn to herself she wouldn’t even think of it, because to do so would require feeling things she had finally shut down. Wendy spun around, and sure enough, there she was.

“Mom?” Wendy’s voice was a faint croak.

“It’s all right now, sweetie. I’m here.” A tall, slim, redheaded woman opened her arms, and Wendy very almost ran into the embrace. She stopped short, and stared.

“No. This isn’t right.” Fear and anguish echoed through Wendy’s voice. Her mother had died three years before, right as school had let out. There had never been a worse summer.

“I guess it isn’t.” Suddenly Wendy noticed her eyes. They were yellow with vertical pupils. The thing wearing the her mom for a suit laughed his awful harmonic laugh as he moved toward her. “We’re going to have to take you out of commission, Red. I thought you were a pushover, but apparently you’ve been through some stuff! You’ve got more hidden corners in your brain than Stan! I did not see that coming-- And I hate that! So you’re going to take a little nap now. A forever nap!”

With a snap of its fingers, Bill was himself again, Wendy was encased in crystal.

“There, that’s one more piece off the board.”

Bill blipped back out of Mabeland.

 

* * *

 

 

Back in her own room, Mabel was putting the finishing touches on her outfit. She’d decided to go for a techno theme, and was done up in several colors of blinking EL wire woven together for a top. Confident that her outfit was complete, she went out into the hall. Maybe Dipper and Wendy were ready to go?

Their door was closed, and they weren’t in the common area. Mabel shrugged and guessed they’d gone on ahead without her. And what was a sock doing on the doorknob, anyway?

 

* * *

 

  
Dipper walked into what had been designated his room and sat heavily on the bed. Everything he’d wanted all summer had come to pass. He grinned; he was the luckiest person he’d ever met.

Standing back up, he walked toward the tall mirror standing in the corner. He stared at his own reflection, taking the time to study and remember his young face. After a few minutes, he closed his eyes, took a breath, and aimed for 16. He opened his eyes, almost a foot higher than they had been, to a face he didn’t quite recognize, like deja vu. The shift in height made him stumble slightly.

“Whoa.”

The voice that came out of his mouth was deeper; he sounded a little like his Dad. Huh. Hands crept around his chest, and he nearly jumped out of his skin until he realized whose they were. He turned around and smiled broadly.

“Wendy! I didn’t hear you come in!”

“I’m very stealthy, you know that.”

“It’s true, you are.”

“Let me get a look at you. Wow, I guess you were right about the taller thing. Hmph. I’ll have to get used to that. You look good.”

“I’m glad you think so. It would have been a real kick in the teeth to age myself up only to disappoint you with the results.”

“I don’t think you could ever disappoint me, Dipper.”

“Good. I hope to continue that trend.”

“Did you want to get ready for the rave? I know Mabel is waiting for us.”

“Not just yet. I have some other ideas first.”

“Take an actual nap on that actual bed like you haven’t seen in days?”

“Heck yeah!”

They both jumped on the bed and in a tangle of limbs, passed out exhausted.

 

* * *

 

Mabel stepped out into the square just as the thumping music reached a fever pitch, and all the attendees cheered their Queen. A single note stretched out as the crowd hushed, then the beat dropped as Mabel danced into the throng.

Many songs later, she saw Wendy, also done up in EL wire, with furry black leggings and a neon green bandeau. She was dancing with a tall boy Mabel didn’t recognize until her heart jumped to her throat: That was Dipper. He’d done it, and it wasn’t until she saw him that Mabel realized she’d been hoping he wouldn’t go through with it.

Mabel set her jaw, grabbed Craz and Xyler by the hands, and danced with both of them as hard as she could. Bad feelings were _not_ allowed in Mabeland.

 

* * *

 

Soos didn’t know there were this many sports in the entire world. He and his Dad had tossed footballs and baseballs, kicked soccer balls, flung lacrosse balls, and were now moving to yet another location for tennis.

Because Soos had never learned much about his Dad, they hadn’t talked much as they played. Well, his Dad hadn’t talked much. Soos told him everything. He talked about growing up with Abuelita, he talked about starting to work at the Mystery Shack, he talked about meeting Melody, he talked about defeating Giffany, he talked and talked and talked. Best of all, his father listened.

“We are here, mijo! Let me now teach you tennis, a true gentleman’s sport!”

“I always have considered myself to be a true gentleman!”

Soos’s Dad snapped his fingers and a net and regulation lines appeared on the grass. Snapping again, they were both in tennis whites, his luchador mask gleaming white with silver trim. Playing grass court tennis demanded proper attire, of course.

"Mijo, go to the other side, and I will gently hit the balls to you. I’m interested to see if you inherited my hand-eye coordination!”

Soos happily trotted to the other side of the net from his father.

“Are you ready, mijo?”

“I sure am, Dad!”

“Here we go!” Soos’s Dad hit the ball over the net, gently as promised. Soos completely missed as it bounced by him. Not reacting at all, he kept grinning happily at his father, racket held at the center of his body, knees bent, ready to move whichever direction the ball came.

“Good try, mijo. Now again.” Once more, a ball was sent gently over the net, and once more, Soos acted as though he hadn’t seen it.

“Uh. Hm. Is something wrong, mijo? Did you not see the balls?”

“I did, Dad. I’m waiting for the perfect one.”

“Oh...Okay…” Soos’s Dad hit another ball, less gently this time. It soared over Soos’s head and across the meadow, where it landed with the sound of smashing glass. Soos turned around, wondering why there was the sound of smashing glass in the middle of an open meadow.

“Did you hear that, Dad?”

“Did I hear what, mijo?”

“It sounded like that last ball hit something over there. I’m going to go take a look.” Still holding his racket, Soos followed where he’d heard the sound.

“Oh. My. Anime. Gods. It’s Wendy! Wendy, what are you doing here? Why are you sleeping in a smashed glass case, Wendy? Wendy? Oh, you’re still asleep, silly me.” Soos ran back to the court, grabbed his water bottle, then went back to Wendy. “Wendy, it’s me, Soos! Wake up, Wendy!”

The crystal that held Wendy had been cracked, but not fully shattered. Only her head was exposed, the rest of the crystal holding fast. Soos splashed water on Wendy’s face, but she didn’t wake up. She didn’t react at all. Over the course of the summer, Soos had honed his skill at waking Wendy up when she was sleeping on the job. He always let her nap until just before Stan came back from his last tour, or the bathroom, or wherever. He was very, very good at waking her up, and she was not waking up this time. This was Not Good. He headed back to the court again.

“Dad, I’d love to play tennis with you some more, but I have to go get Dipper and Mabel. I found Wendy over there, and she’s not waking up. Something’s wrong.”

"Mijo! You are showing true leadership and nobility of spirit! I have never been so proud! Let us return to Mabel’s tower, surely she will be able to help!”

 

* * *

 

 

After what felt like an endless infinity of shaking what her mama had given her, Mabel realized she just needed to sleep on suddenly having a big brother. It wouldn’t be all bad, she figured. She’d have someone to defend her from jerks at high school. Except they would be here, where there was no high school. And then math brain kicked in, and she realized he would only have been around for her freshman year. Yeah, time to cuddle up with a giant pig and think about all of this tomorrow.

Trusting it to go on without her, Mabel slipped away from her own party. Craz and Xyler danced on, not realizing their Queen had departed.

She returned to her quarters and started deconstructing the EL wire she wore. She looked in the mirror and wondered what was so special about being 12? What was so special about being older than 12? Maybe she could be not 12, but still be herself? Did that make any sense at all?

  
Or was that the actual secret to growing up?

There was never a thing that one twin tried that the other could ever resist. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Mabel, too, focused her energy on being 16. She opened her eyes to a sight just as eerie as seeing Dipper at the party had been. She was taller. Not as tall as Dipper, but certainly at least as tall as Tambry. Her face was thinner, having lost some of the chubbiness in her cheeks. She started to examine the rest of herself, but decided this entire exercise was too weird to continue. This was a process she wanted to experience gradually, not as part of some magic wish. Even if she had greatly enjoyed playing with that size-shifting flashlight that one time. But that had only been height, it hadn’t made her suddenly look four years older. Well, three years and six days older.

She closed her eyes again, and when she opened them, she was back to her normal self. It was honestly a relief. She was no closer to sorting out how she felt about Dipper’s choice, but she was satisfied that it wasn’t the path for her.

Mabel pulled on pajamas and curled up in her giant bed, with her Giant Waddles.

 

* * *

 

 

“Hey! It looks like Mabel left! Want to head back, too?” Dipper felt like he’d had enough party, even though time seemed to have no real meaning in this place.

“Yeah, let’s bail!” Wendy took his hand, and they made their way back towards the castle.

Neither of them noticed Soos and his father show up, still impeccable in their tennis whites. Soos noticed them, however.

“Dad, I know you only met my friends for like a second, but I’m seeing this correctly, right? That’s my friend Wendy and some tall...why does that look like it’s almost Dipper but not quite? I am very confused, Dad.”

“I am also confused, mijo. Is that not the same young lady we saw encased in crystal in the meadow?”

“It is. I need to go find Mabel, I think. Uh, maybe you should wait here. You’ll be here when I get back?”

“Of course, mijo.”

“Cool. Be right back.”

Soos took off toward the castle. As he crossed the threshold, his father disappeared.

Wandering through empty common areas, Soos realized that everyone was in their rooms. He found his way back to a door that even had it not said MABEL on it in glittering letters, it would have obviously been hers. Rainbows, kittens, and other brightly colored shapes and whorls covered it from top to bottom. Unicorns were very conspicuously absent. Soos knocked.

“Hey Mabel? You around?”

Mabel came to the door in her pajamas, just as bright and colorful as the door. She looked like she’d been sleeping, or at least trying to. The state of her hair and the tangle of bedclothes suggested she’d been having trouble finding rest.

“Soos! Where have you been! We had a rave. Dipper’s 16 now.”

“I was learning to play all the sports with my father, but I’m sorry we missed the rave! Also, Dipper’s what now?”

“Oh, Soos! Wendy decided she’s in love with him after all, and since we’re in a place where anything is possible, he made himself older so it was less weird. Or whatever. I’m fine.” Mabel hung her head and toyed with the hem of her nightshirt. She didn’t look like what Soos would call fine, but what she’d just told him reminded him why he was here.

“Yeah, about Wendy, dude...I don’t know if the Wendy with Dipper is actually Wendy.” Mabel looked up at Soos so fast he was sure she’d hurt herself.

“I KNEW IT! I knew it I knew it I knew it!! I wanted to be supportive, and I was willing to compromise to have Dipper stay with me but something about it just smelled wrong and--wait. Why do you think that’s not Wendy? The four of us haven’t been together all day!

“My Dad and I were in a meadow--My Dad is SO COOL, MABEL! He was teaching me how to play so many different sports, and we went to a meadow so he could show me how to play tennis. He hit a ball way into the distance and it smashed what looked like a crystal coffin, and Wendy was in it! I think our Wendy is kicking it Snow White style, dude.”

“Soos. Whoa. You are blowing my mind right now.”

“I know, my mind was totally blown, too.”

“I wonder how that happened? Wait, are we all asleep in crystal coffins? Am I really here? Are you?” Mabel started touching her face and patting her hair.

“Dude, I don’t know, but you’re kinda freaking me out. I don’t want to be in the Matrix!”

“I promise that you’re not in the Matrix, Soos. Whatever is going on here, it is definitely not that!”

“How are you so sure, Mabel?”

“In the Matrix, you can’t wish stuff into existence because you won’t believe it and you’ll wake up. Here, you can TOTALLY get that! You met your Dad today! See? Not the Matrix.”

“You are so wise. But we still need to rescue Wendy. And maybe Dipper? I’m still not sure exactly what’s going on.”

“If the Wendy he’s in there with isn’t the real Wendy, Dipper will definitely want to know about it. Let me change out of my PJ’s, and we’ll get this started. Hang on.” Mabel dashed behind a changing screen in the corner of her room, and emerged dressed for battle in pink and purple glittery camouflage. She knew that whatever lay ahead of them, it wasn’t going to be pretty or easy. “Let’s do this.”

 

* * *

 

Inside their room, Dipper and Wendy were in their pajamas as well, snuggling on the bed and talking. Dipper hadn’t felt so comfortable around Wendy the entire summer, and certainly with no one else basically ever. (Other than Mabel, of course. But sisters, even twins, didn’t really count for this sort of thing.) He still couldn’t believe his luck. If he was going to find himself stuck in a magical pocket dimension where time had no meaning, he was for sure making the best of it. He hugged Wendy tighter and smiled at her.

“I want you to know I’m really happy. This is really wonderful.”

“I’m really happy, too. If we’re going to live through the end of the world, the least we could do was get some joy, you know? My Dad always talked about the end of the world like, well, like it was outside. Scarcity and fear and scavenging for food and never getting a good night’s sleep because you didn’t know what was coming to get you. I’d much rather be in a big soft bed with you, Dipper.”

The name she knew him by coming off her lips in this moment hit him sideways. He thought about how a few days ago, a lifetime ago, he’d shared his most closely-held secret with Ford. Well, if his greatest two wishes all summer were to meet The Author, and something with Wendy that barely approached this, maybe it was time to open up a little more. Saying his given name once already made it that much easier to want to say it again. He took a deep breath, kissed the top of Wendy’s head, and let his breath out again slowly.

“Mason. When it’s just us, would you call me Mason?” Wendy looked up at him and stared.

“Mason. Whoa. I knew “Dipper” was a nickname, but I would never have asked. Thank you for telling me! Huh. Not what I would have guessed.” She leaned up and kissed him, and nothing more was said after that.

In his surveillance pod in the Fearamid, Bill nearly went incorporeal with glee. It had been a very long time since he’d had a True Name to play with. Already very deep in trouble, Dipper Pines had no idea the further danger he’d just set for himself.

 

* * *

 

Mabel and Soos hurried down the hallway to the room Dipper and Wendy shared. Mabel still cringed internally at the thought, but now it was tinged with a sense of triumph. Or hope for that sense of triumph, anyway. She banged on the door.

“Dipper! You in there?”

Dipper made an exasperated noise. He’d hoped that Mabel would give them some privacy at least for tonight. They hadn’t really spent much time all together at the party, so it made sense that she’d want to talk now, but it also was a jerk move. Surely she saw that, right? He looked down at Wendy, who had dropped off to sleep a few minutes ago. The knock on the door hadn’t woken her, even with Mabel shouting his name at the top of her voice. He gave Wendy a quick squeeze and then extricated himself from the bed as gently as he could without disturbing her. He came to the door with an annoyed air.

“Yes, Mabel, what is it?” It took him a second to remember there was now a significant height difference between them, and looked confused before looking down. Soos was standing behind Mabel with a completely stunned look on his face.

“Dude,” was all Soos could muster. Mabel took point.

“Hey, Dipper. Um, can you come out here for a second? Soos and I need to talk to you.” Dipper sighed, but exited the room and quietly closed the door behind him.

“What is it, Mabel? We were sleeping.”

“Pssh, yeah, sleeping, sure.”

“Mabel, tell me what this is about or I’m going back to bed.”

“That’s not Wendy.” Mabel was almost successful at keeping the “I told you so” out of her voice. Almost.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me. We already made sure it was really her! You’re just mad that I got something I wanted for a change.”

“Dipper, no, I promise. I’m happy for you, well, I was. I was trying to be, I promise, but Soos-- Soos, tell Dipper what you told me.”

“Dude,” Soos came out with again. He was still staring at Dipper’s new look.

“Soos! Tell Dipper what you told me!” Mabel was panicking that if what he’d seen didn’t get explained, she’d somehow lose Dipper further than she already had. None of this felt good at all.

Soos took a deep breath and composed himself.

“Dipper, I was playing tennis with my Dad, and we found Wendy, well, I guess a Wendy, encased in crystal. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on, but I don’t know if the girl in your room is the real Wendy.”

Dipper pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Soos, unlike some people” he glared at Mabel, ”I have no reason to think you’d try to ruin this for me. Okay, so let’s say she’s not real, have I been kissing a manifestation of my own mind all day?” Mabel cracked up at this. She turned around and reached her arms across herself, running her hands up and down her neck.

“Look at me, I’m Dipper! I’m kissing a manifestation of my own mind!”

“Mabel! This is not the time. Ugh, great, now I’m getting a headache. That’s just what I need. Look, I’m going back to bed, we can deal with this in the morning, okay?” Mabel sighed and got a serious look back on her face.

“Dipper, please. I know you have no reason to believe me, but I’m worried about you. And Wendy. Also, I mean, if there’s any version of Wendy in danger, you’d want to help her, right? We don’t know who’s in that crystal, but if that is the real Wendy, do you want to take that chance?”

Dipper couldn’t argue with that logic.

“I guess you want to go now, huh?” Mabel nodded.

“If the real Wendy truly is trapped in a crystal, we don’t know how safe she is or for how long.”

“All right, let me go change out of my pajamas. I’ll be right back.”

Dipper went back into his room, where Wendy was awake and sitting up in bed.

“Everything okay out there?”

“Yeah, just, you know, twin stuff. Uh, I mean, sibling stuff, I guess.” Dipper walked over the chair where his clothes had been unceremoniously stashed.

“You’re getting dressed?”

“Yeah, Soos said he saw We…..weird stuff out in a meadow and we have to go check it out.” His sense of self preservation kicking in, Dipper suspected revealing the details would have really bad consequences.

“But it’s the middle of the night!”

“I know, but it’s kinda urgent. I’ll be back as soon as I can, but you should stay and get some sleep.”

“Do you want me to come with? I could probably be of some help.” Wendy pulled back the covers and started to stand up.

“No, it’s cool. Get some sleep. I’ll be back before you know it.”

“You’d tell me if something was wrong, right Dip...Mason?” With his head stuck in his shirt, Dipper didn’t see the yellow flash in her eyes when she said his name. He did, however, notice his headache get worse.

“Ow! No, nothing is wrong, Wendy. Ugh, this headache is going to make this real fun.”

“Okay. I’ll be here, I guess.”

“You’re the lucky one, you get to sleep. Back soon, I promise.”

Dipper kissed her once more, then left her alone in the room.

This time, Wendy remained corporeal, eyes glowing, imbued with the astral projection of Bill.

“Yeah, Mason. Come back soon.”

Neither Soos, Dipper, or Mabel heard Bill’s harmonic cackle come from Wendy’s lips behind the closed door.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Soos’s father reappeared as the three came out of the castle with Waddles at their side. It seemed almost like an optical illusion, like he’d been in a shadow and stepped out from it. A chill went up Mabel’s spine, but she didn’t mention it. If Soos noticed, he didn’t say anything either. Dipper was hurrying along, clearly still feeling his headache.

"Mijo,” Soos’s father called out. “I see you have your friends with you! Let us go return to the meadow and rescue that red haired girl!”

Mabel eyed Soos’s father carefully. If the real Wendy was in trouble, it stood to reason that the entire world they were in was dangerous. And if the whole world was dangerous, so were its manifestations. Was Soos’s father leading them into a trap? Well, even if he was, he knew the way back to the meadow, so she’d trust him that far, at least. A further trickle of fear ran through her as she realized that this world was hers. It was created from her own mind. Any reason she had to doubt it was reason it had to doubt her. She suspected that would create a situation in which no one was safe.

Look, if denial and delusion were what was going to keep them safe, she was on it. Mabelpatra, Queen of Denial. She stopped to wonder if this haze of paranoia and anxiety was how Dipper felt all the time. Yikes. She looked ahead at him thoughtfully. If it looked like her brother, and talked like her brother, he was definitely her brother. Unlike the Wendy back in the castle, Mabel had no concerns that he was a fake. No simulation or manifestation could be that ornery or unlucky enough to get a headache in paradise. In fact, it was the headache that convinced her best. Mabel was thankful that even in this totally upended set of circumstances, she could still count on Dipper being Dipper.

They pressed on, coming to the meadow before long. The chalk lines and net from the tennis game were still there, their rackets leaned against the net. The balls were still in the basket stand on one side. Mabel saw a few balls far on the other side, and just past them, something glimmered. Her heart skipped a beat.

“Over there!” Everyone followed Mabel across the meadow, stopping in front of what was unmistakably Wendy encased in a cracked crystal. Soos and Mabel looked at Dipper. Soos’s father just looked generally confused, while Dipper’s face was hard to read. Backing away from the crystal, it seemed like every possible emotion a person could have played across his face as he considered the implications of the sight before him. Mabel approached him and put her hand on his arm.

“You okay, Bro-bro?”

“I...no. This is very bad. Because either I’ve been making out with a manifestation of my own mind all day or...nope, that’s it. If this is really Wendy, then I 100%...”

“...then you 100% sold out for makeouts,” Mabel finished for him. Dipper dropped to the ground with a wail and cradled his head in his hands. Soos and his father examined the crystal some more.

“When you put it like that, I sound like an even bigger mess.”

Mabel sat down next to him. “Dipper. We are in a world created entirely by my id, further populated by manifestations of Soos’, Wendy’s, and your ids. We _all_ sold out for makeouts.” She made a face. “Well, not in Soos’s case, but you know what I mean. You didn’t do anything the rest of us didn’t.”

“I guess.” Dipper did not sound very sure of himself. Mabel stood and held out her hands to help him up. It felt very strange with him so much bigger than she was. She didn't like it much.

“Come on, let’s figure this out so we know just how badly we’ve all screwed up.” Mabel pulled Dipper along by the hand, joining Soos and his father’s study of the crystal. Dipper bent over it, carefully running his hands along where it had shattered. "Carefully" being the operative word: he didn’t know how sharp it was, and the last thing he needed was a sliced hand on top of his worsening headache.

“Hey Soos,” Dipper began, “I don’t suppose you have any of your tools with you? Like a wrench or a hammer?”

“In fact I do! Here you go, big little dude!” Soos handed over a hammer. Dipper carefully examined the crystal from all angles, looking for the best way to attempt cracking it without further endangering Wendy. He traced a line to her left shoulder off a shard over her face, finding a visible fault.

“Well, here goes nothing. Cross fingers, everyone!” Mabel, Soos, and Soos’s father all held up their crossed fingers and held their breaths. Bringing the hammer up above his head, Dipper struck the crystal. His aim was true, and Wendy’s prison spiderwebbed and shattered. Dipper quickly caught her to spare her being cut from the shards.

He’d been unsure about keeping his older form, in the event this was the real Wendy-- that was a conversation he wasn’t keen on having just yet. But he knew he wouldn’t have been able to support her weight in his true form. He lifted her up and away from the broken crystal, and set her down in the grass a few yards away. Dipper tapped her, and gently shook her shoulder.

“Wendy, hey. Wake up? Please wake up?” She did not look any closer to waking.

“Hey Dipper, maybe I should do that? I don’t know how waking up and seeing Tall Teenage Dipper would go over.” Dipper pulled a face and came away from Wendy. Mabel walked over and took a turn. She wasn’t anything like gentle, shaking Wendy’s shoulders sharply.

“Wendy! Come on! Up and at ‘em! Wakey wakey eggs and Stancakes!”

Wendy remained completely unconscious. Soos’s father stepped forward with a polite cough.

“If I may suggest? Perhaps we should bring her back to the castle and attend to her there? There isn’t much we can do in the middle of a field.”

Mabel sat back on her heels with a sigh. “He’s right. Can you guys get her up on Waddles? He won’t let her fall.” The four of them got Wendy settled onto Waddles’ saddle, and Mabel and Dipper walked along on each side. Making their way back to the castle, the group was somber and worried. Even Soos’s father caught the mood, nervously eyeing Wendy, and constantly opening and closing his mouth to voice encouragement at his son, but never actually saying anything. 

Their concern proved valid when Xyler and Craz came running up the path, their car pulled over onto the grass.

“Mabel!”

“Our Queen!”

“The castle has been taken!” They said this in unison, bowing towards her.

Mabel motioned for her companions to stay with Waddles and Wendy, and she approached her...whatever they were.

“Please report, guys!” She knew she could trust them to provide good intel-- they were hers, after all.

“After you left the castle, Wendy came out and started...controlling everyone else.”

“She didn’t get us, though!”

“We’re yours forever, Mabel!” Xyler and Craz high-fived. Mabel couldn’t help but grin at that. Whatever was going on, Bill was probably behind it, and this meant that she was stronger than he was, even in a space created by his own power. Or had she created it? Huh. She’d have to discuss that with Grunkle Ford after this was all over. If anyone knew the answer, it would be him.

Her attention snapped back to the world in front of her. They’d lead her a bit further up the path, where she could see the castle. Everything looked the same, but not quite, like a radio tuned just slightly off-station. An undeniable sense of malevolence was suddenly on the air. Ignoring her earlier instruction, Dipper, Soos, Soos’s father, and Waddles came up alongside her.

“I don’t think that was really Wendy, you guys.” Mabel was unsure which of her audience she was addressing. It didn’t matter; Dipper looked stricken. “Oh, Dipper. I’m sorry. This isn’t how I wanted this to go.”

“I know, Mabel. I know.” His voice sounded odd, and Mabel furrowed her brows and turned around. She saw him just as he returned to his true form.

“Dipper! What did you do?”

“I aged myself up for a lie. Why would I keep myself that way?”

“Bro-bro.” Mabel walked over to her brother and hugged him tight. Just as he was about to return the hug, he shouted and doubled over in pain. Mabel jumped back. She noticed Soos’s father was doing the same. “What’s wrong? Dipper? Soos?”

Soos’s father stopped screaming abruptly and stood up. Dipper, Mabel, and Soos all screamed when they saw his eyes: Yellow, with catlike slits. Bill. Dipper screamed even louder as his body tried to stretch to his earlier form.

Xyler and Craz ran towards Soos’s father and subdued him. Dipper would never quite be able to get rid of the image of them dragging him to their car and stashing him in the trunk. They would later confide in Mabel that Soos had managed to exert a significant amount of control over his father, too. While Soos's father hadn’t been able to shake Bill entirely as they had, he’d let himself be taken so he wouldn’t betray his son as his real-world counterpart always had. Soos’s greatest gift had always been being stronger than he realized.

“What’s happening, Dipper,” Mabel shouted.

“I don’t know, I’m not controlling it!” His voice boomed and cracked, his vocal cords lengthening and thickening at an unnatural speed. He couldn’t tell which hurt more: his throat or his head. His headache had gotten even worse, if it was possible. He could feel his left eye throbbing in its socket. He looked at Mabel, who looked as afraid as he felt. His left eye was turning yellow, its pupil gone black and elongating.

“Dipper, you have to fight it!”

“I’m trying, I promise!” He looked up, body stuck in a terrifying midway point between its natural self and the form he’d chosen. One eye was untouched, the other completely turned.

Xyler and Craz returned from their task and ran towards Dipper.

“Dude, what did you tell him?”

“He’s got something on you!” Dipper gaped at them.

“What are you talking about?”

“Bill can only control things he has access to! What does he have on you?” Dipper still hadn’t processed the question, but Mabel was putting the pieces together. Xyler and Craz looked at each other, nodded, and moved to untie Wendy from Waddles. They delicately lifted her and placed her in the car. Mabel glanced between Wendy and her brother, and her eyes went wide.

“Dipper, you didn’t!”

“I didn’t what? I don’t know what they’re talking about!” He convulsed yet again, still fighting the transformation. What if it he lost his body to Bill again?

“Dipper, what’s the first thing they teach you in any book about the supernatural?”

“Nothing can get you in a circle of salt?”

“No, the other thing!”

“Never give them your real name.” Somehow, even with his features misshapen and shifting, Dipper's horror was plain to see.

“What have I done,” he wailed, as Mabel grabbed his hands.

“It’s going to be okay, Dip-dop. You’re forgetting something very important.”

“What’s that?”

“I have that same knowledge.” Her voice echoed in harmonics much like Bill’s, but with a warmth and softness that echoed her nature. Mabel got a fearsome look on her face, and her hands and eyes began to glow. She recited Dipper’s full true name in her mind like a mantra, and shaped a protective shell around him. Well, it was more like a hamster ball, but it surrounded him completely and shielded him from Bill’s influence. “I’ve also got two things he doesn’t: We share the same blood, and I know your middle name!”

Encased in the pink plastic, Dipper’s headache disappeared immediately, and his form resolved into his true shape. He fell to the ground with a relieved gasp.

“M…middle name. Mabel, that’s it! C’mere!” Mabel leaned against the Dipper Ball, as he cupped his hands around his mouth. “I know Wendy’s middle name! It’s…” Dipper whispered the name, a true piece of Gravity Falls inanity, but a weapon Bill didn’t have all the same.

“What, really?” Mabel choked back a snicker.

“Yeah, really.”

Mabel shrugged, knowing now was not the time to question it.

“Ok, everyone in the car.” Xyler, Craz, Soos, and the still-unconscious Wendy all settled into the pink convertible. Mabel resumed her post astride Waddles, as Dipper ran the Dipper Ball next to her.

“Where should we go, Mabel?” Xyler asked.

“To the castle. We finish this.”

“What about Wendy?” Dipper cast a concerned look at his friend, still asleep in the car. Mabel sighed.

“Who knows what state she’ll be in when she wakes up? Do you think she’d be up for a second fight against a thing with her own face?”

“I know she’d never forgive you for not giving her the choice.” Dipper had the grace to say this solemnly, with a look of shame. He was pushing through, but he wasn’t anywhere near forgiving himself for his actions. Mabel nodded, and slid back down off of Waddles. Soos stepped out of the car, and Mabel took his place next to Wendy.

Summoning her strength, she focused on the full name Dipper had given her and placed a hand at each of Wendy’s temples. Mabel gasped as she was pulled into Wendy’s mindscape. She had just enough time to cry out for her brother before collapsing back against the seat of the car.

Soos looked back and forth between Dipper, and Craz and Xyler.

“Dude. Now what?”

Dipper squared his shoulders, as confident as he could look in a human-sized pink plastic ball.

“We protect them, and we wait.”

 

* * *

 

 

Mabel seemed to fall forever. Finally, her already languid speed slowed, and she found herself deposited gently to her feet on what she understood to be the ground of Wendy’s mindscape. She looked around, finding herself in a space that looked like the woods around the Mystery Shack. She braced herself when she saw a shape heading toward her, and blinked in surprise when it resolved into a girl a few inches taller than she was. She had thick red hair that fell around her face in a choppy bob, and was wearing jeans and a t-shirt with hiking boots. Mabel was clearly looking at a younger version of Wendy.

“Um, hi, Wendy, right?” Mabel wasn’t taking anything for granted anymore.

“Hi! Do I know you? Have you seen my Mom?” A braces-filled mouth smiled at Mabel, surprising her.

“No? I just got here. My name’s Mabel. I can help you find her if you like?” Oh boy, Mabel thought. This whole thing just keeps getting better. She knew that time effectively had no meaning, but she wasn’t happy about leaving Dipper, Soos, Xyler, and Craz hanging around waiting. And maybe this was one of those things where time was passing more quickly in here than outside? She didn’t want this to take any longer than it had to, but she knew that she couldn’t go tearing through Wendy’s brainmeats higgledy-piggledy. Bill had almost certainly done that already, no need to add to the damage.

“Okay! What brings you to Gravity Falls?”

“I’m uh...here with my brother. We’re visiting our Grunkle. Grunkles, I guess.” Wendy gave Mabel a blank look. “Great-uncles. Grunkles.”

“Ohhh, I get it! That’s funny.”

“Where did you last see your Mom?”

“We were in the meadow, but she disappeared. I’ve been all over looking for her. I even went to The Mystery Shack! What a weird place that is. That old man is kinda mean.” Mabel ignored this insult to Grunkle Stan and kept the conversation going. The last place she knew Wendy was going-- the real Wendy, she amended-- was the high school. She’d start with that.

“Have you been to the high school at all? I hear the principal’s just begging to have a plunger stuck to his head.” Wendy’s eyes went as big as saucers before she cracked up laughing.

“You’re a riot, Mabel! But no, not yet. I just finished 8th grade. I won’t go to the high school until the end of the summer for orientation. I hope I find my Mom by then!” Mabel wondered how long Wendy had been looking for her mother if an event a week in the future was in question.

This also meant the high school idea was a wash. Wait-- a meadow. That’s where they’d found Wendy in the first place. Suddenly, Mabel was sure an identical meadow existed in Wendy’s mindscape, and if they went there, they’d find a familiar-looking crystal coffin.

“Wendy, can you take me to the meadow?”

“Sure, it’s this way!”

Wendy took point, babbling on about her brothers and how she was looking forward to high school. Mabel couldn’t help but notice there was a guilelessness to this Wendy that she’d never seen in the one she knew. The real Wendy wasn’t that much older--what on earth had happened?

They got to the meadow, and Mabel noticed two things: One, that it was identical to the meadow where Soos had found Wendy, and two, instead of a coffin, there was an entire crystal structure on the far end of it. Mabel smiled grimly. However this shook out, she hoped it wouldn’t hurt Wendy too terribly.

“Hey, Wendy, look! Have you seen that crystal thing before?” A dark look crossed Wendy’s face, and Mabel turned away to look at the structure again.

“Mama says I’m not supposed to go near that.” Wendy’s voice suddenly sounded even younger. Mabel looked back and gaped as the girl who said that suddenly looked younger, too. Shorter, with pigtails and crooked teeth. Whatever whammy had been placed on Wendy, it was very, very strong. Mabel had another idea.

“Why don’t you take my hand? It won’t be so scary if we’re holding hands.” The now-younger girl took Mabel’s hand in relief. Whether or not they obeyed Mama, she appreciated the physical comfort on offer. As they approached the crystal, it was very obviously an altar or dais. A stage, maybe? There, on a grand throne was Wendy as Mabel knew her. Wendy sat in a perfect meditation pose, looking entirely normal but for the bright heart glowing visibly over her chest. Of course: her heart’s desire. Everything about this mindscape suddenly made sense.

Mabel had met Wendy’s father and brothers, but she’d never felt right asking about her mother. Wendy was only a few years older than she and Dipper were-- the thought of not having a mom that young was the sort of thing she only liked to think of in the context of fairy tales, and even then not so much. Mabel’s already deep respect for Wendy grew when she realized she’d tricked the magic of the Bubble. Bill wouldn’t get away with this as long as Mabel had any say in the matter. She turned to the little girl beside her.

“Hey, Wendy? Why don’t you stay here for a moment, and I’ll go investigate that crystal. I don’t want you to get in trouble with your Mom.” More like I don’t want you close enough to get hit with any fallout, Mabel thought to herself. Wendy obligingly sat down in the grass, already paying more attention to dandelion fluffs than to Mabel.

Standing in front of the structure, Mabel took a deep breath. She felt enough of out of her depth that she was nervous. However, she was not nervous enough that she wouldn’t do everything she could to save her friends and her brother. She may not be in her own mindscape, but she was in _a_ mindscape, and by now, that was practically her natural element. She placed her hands on the structure and reached out with her mind, trying to find a fault or a seam in its energy. No joy. Well, only way out is through.

She focused on collecting ambient energy into her hands, and making it hot. Carefully, so she didn’t burn Wendy-- was that even possible in a mindscape?-- Mabel felt the surface of the crystal begin to liquefy. She could practically hear Dipper yelling at her that that wasn’t how crystals or physics worked, but she talked back to him anyway that this was a mindscape and she’d bend physics how she pleased. She hoped Dipper and the others were still safe.

A way into the crystal found, Mabel parted it like a curtain to reach her friend. Like her true body outside, Wendy drooped down and Mabel clumsily caught her. Mabel settled her in the grass, and lost a moment to delirious laughter, wondering if she could be woken with a kiss. Mabel appreciated the opportunity for a fair exchange of objects of desire and first kisses of rescue like Dipper's with Mermando.

Mastering herself, she knew it was not the time for any of that. She was very concerned about Wendy’s visible heart. How does one touch someone’s literal visible heart? Especially when it’s revealing a secret wish that wasn’t for your eyes? The watchword, like with the rest of Wendy’s mindscape in its current state, was “gently.”

First, Mabel propped Wendy up so she was leaning against the crystal structure, then she sat down facing Wendy and focused on her own heart. It formed in her hands in front of her. This entire ordeal may have begun with her wish for more summer, for time to stop, but now her most fervent desire was for everyone’s safe passage back to Gravity Falls. Yeah, they’d still have to deal with Bill when they got there, but they’d all be there _together_. That especially was what Mabel truly wanted just now.

Mabel took Wendy’s hands and placed them on her heart, then placed her own hands on Wendy’s heart.

Mabel was slammed with knowledge. Knowledge, and anguish.

The face of a woman she could only assume was Wendy’s mother swam through her vision. The cacophony of a thousand remembered conversations echoed through her head, punctuated with the heights of the laugh of someone who can barely catch their breath from it. It was a joyful sound, but it nonetheless filled Mabel with sorrow. Underneath all of it was a soft whisper of love, too painful, too private to comfortably overhear. The only desire in Mabel’s heart became to rescue Wendy from this closed loop.

Slowly, that desire crept its way into Wendy’s fingertips, and up her arms. It reached her mind, and shaped itself into a crowbar, perfect for prying herself free. She opened her eyes with a gasp.

Wendy and Mabel looked at each other, and burst into tears. The two friends hugged from relief, from fear, from worry. Mabel gave an extra tight squeeze for the grief she’d only just learned about. Wendy understood, and returned the hug in kind.

Collecting themselves, Wendy wiped her eyes and shakily got to her feet.

“That evil triangle is going down,” she said, with all the steadiness she could muster. It wasn’t much.

“Darn right he is! I’m really glad I found you, Wendy.”

“I’m glad you found me, too. How did you find me, by the way?”

“Oh, there was a younger version of you, she’s over...huh.” Mabel pointed across the meadow to where she’d left the younger Wendy. The little girl was on the hip of a tall, slim redheaded woman. Even from a distance, Mabel could see she had laughing eyes and a kind face. She gave the girl she held a hug, and steadying her with one arm, raised the other in a wave. The part of her mother that lived on in Wendy was still protecting her, would always protect her.

Changing her wave to more of a “go on!” gesture, the mindscape started to fade.

Mabel and Wendy woke up, tears on their cheeks, but smiles on their faces.

“Hey dudes, they’re back.” Soos was closest to them, but all four were still standing guard.

Mabel and Wendy sat up as Dipper shyly approached. Everything he needed to say was awful and shameful enough, let alone while standing in a hamster ball. Mabel knew her brother well enough to know what he was about to do and shook her head at him, making the ixnay motion with her hand at her neck. She didn’t think Dipper’s Extreme Honesty Hour would pair well with Wendy’s residual Mom Feels. Dipper shook his head right back at her.

“Mabel, as soon as we get to the castle she’s going to know what’s up. Better she should hear it from me before we get there.”

“Hear what from you?” Wendy knew she was the subject of the previous sentence. “Dipper, why are you in a hamster ball?”

Dipper laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. “Would you believe they’re actually connected?”

“Dipper made some choices, and he’s in the hamster ball for his protection from the consequences of those choices.” Mabel wasn’t interested in prolonging this reconnoiter. The longer they stood here and hashed out their feelings-- however much they needed to be hashed out, she agreed-- the longer they were separated from the rest of Gravity Falls.

“Mabel, can I do this myself please?” Dipper was really insistent on coming clean.

She sighed. “Go on, we’re obviously not getting on with this until you do.”

Dipper took a deep breath and looked at Wendy.

“Wendy, as you’ve probably figured out this whole place works by manifesting your deepest held wants, and um, desires. Let me start by saying I am not proud of myself. I am deeply disappointed in myself.”

“Your brain created a Wendyganger, huh?”

“With that in mind please don’t---what?”

“It was me, right?”

“Oh. Yes. I’m sorry.” Dipper looked as contrite as a boy could while standing in a giant pink hamster ball.

“Look, I’m not happy about it. Actually, I’m pretty creeped out. But like, the mess I just went through? This place digs deep. I know you've gotten better, but no one gets over a crush that fast. I know that the hard way, too. Don’t be too hard on yourself, dude. Bill got us all.”

“That’s what I told him!” Mabel was beaming at her brother and their friend, glad that this had seemingly been resolved as smoothly as it had.

“So Mabel, how bad did it get?”

“Dipper turned himself 16.” Dipper scowled at them through the hamster ball’s plastic.

“Oh jeez. I don’t even want to know what else happened. Clearly “else” happened. Ugh, maybe I’m not okay.” Wendy looked very uncomfortable as she juggled this information with the desire to deal with the more immediate problems of beating Bill, and then going home to beat Bill. This had just turned into even more of a recursive loop of suck.

Mabel opened her mouth to provide details, but Dipper shot her an angry look that silenced her.

“Whatever, I was taller than both of you.” He rubbed his temples, took a deep breath, and let it back out. “Wendy, I’ll understand if you don’t want to be around me after this, but can we deal with it after we get out of here? If I’m going to face this music, I’d really rather do it back in Gravity Falls.”

“You’re only getting out of it because I want to be home, too.”

“Okay, great!” Mabel shouted. “Let’s figure this all out. Craz, Xyler, can you please give us the rundown you gave me?”

“Yes!” Said Craz.

“Definitely” Said Xyler.

“Absolutely!” They shouted together.

“The short version!” Dipper sounded just totally done with the whole experience. The High School High boys looked at Mabel, who nodded at them.

“Bill took over the other Wendy’s body and is reigning chaos upon the castle!”

The two candy colored boys high fived and looked expectantly at their audience.

Dipper wailed and hit his head repeatedly against the wall of the hamster ball. Wendy, however, looked thoughtful.

“Is there anything at the castle we need? Like, is there any reason to go back there? Since we’re all together, why not find a way out of here that doesn’t involve walking right towards Bill?”

The group murmured their agreement.

“Yeah, why not find a way out of here that doesn’t involve dealing with ME!”

Everyone’s heads whipped around to the person who just spoke. Hovering a foot off the ground, floating malevolently, was a figure indistinguishable from Wendy, but with Bill’s yellow, slitted eyes. The hovering was also a clue.

Mabel ran towards the voice, a pink shield of light spreading out behind her, protecting her companions.

“I’m the one you want. Leave my friends be.”

Wendy ran around the edge of the shield, taking a fighting stance next to Mabel.

“Oh HECK no. If something has my face, I’m not going to sit by while someone else fights it.” Wendy grinned dangerously at Mabel, which she returned, all teeth.

“I’ll hold, you punch? Wait, is that weird?”

“Not weird at all. I want to slap that jerk out of my face.”

The two encroached upon the floating doppleganger, Mabel jumping at it when she felt the distance was close enough for capture. The figure floated just out of her reach, taunting her.

“Ah ah ah, do you really think I’ll let myself get captured? Here?”

Mabel stood up and glared. “You’re forgetting something important, jerkface: This is my realm; I control it. You’re strong, but the buck stops with _me_.”

Mabel moved her arms like she was practicing tai chi. With each movement, bright pink ribbons and Red Vines flowed, wrapping around Bill-as-Wendy, trapping him in candy and silk. Wrapping the ends around her hands and forearms, Mabel gave a great tug, pulling the being down towards her.

“Wendy, now!!”

Squaring off, Wendy swung her ax, handily decapitating the creature with her own face. Time seemed to stop as Mabel, Dipper, Soos, Xyler, and Craz all gasped.

“Dang, Wendy! I thought you said slap!” Mabel gasped.

“I don’t like people taking my face! Why is this even a thing?”

The head bounced once, then twice, then righted itself.

“Nice shot, Red! It’s gonna take a little bit more than--”

Wendy ran up to the head and gave it a solid kick with her boot. Getting the hang of how mindscapes work, she imbued it with a healthy portion of her will, shoving Bill right out the head. The velocity of the kick sent him flying high and higher, until he reached the pink sky and passed through its surface. He disappeared with a pop they all felt in their ears.

Bill was gone, back to Gravity Falls and Weirdmageddon.

Now they just had to figure out how to do the same.

Mabel and Wendy caught their breath as Mabel’s shield protecting the others had faded. Dipper hamster balled his way to them, with Soos, Craz, and Xyler behind him.

“That was incredible! You guys took him out like it was nothing!”

Wendy posed like a superhero, and Mabel shrugged, then made a downward motion with her hands. The hamster ball ceased to be, and Dipper tripped and fell. She choked back a laugh, then helped him up.

“Oops, sorry, bro-bro. I should have given you a heads’ up. Are you okay? No more shapeshifting?” Dipper shot her a cranky look, then dusted himself off. He gave himself a quick limbs check, then nodded, satisfied.

“Yeah, I think I’m all right. Everyone okay? Wendy?” He looked at her with a face full of anxiety and hope.

“I am going to need so much therapy. Like, all of the therapy. If I fight one more thing that’s wearing my face, I think I get a free slurpee. Jeez. Can we go home now?”

“Wait!” Everyone looked at Dipper, who had a panicked look on his face. “If we leave, he'll be able to control me again, and Mabel won’t be able to stop him. His magic works out there. Mabel’s doesn’t.”

“What did he have on you, dude?” Wendy had missed that particular conversation, being unconscious and all. Dipper desperately wished he still had his hamster ball so he could blame the blush creeping up his face on the pink plastic.

“ItoldthethingIthoughtwasyoumyrealname.”

“That’s why I was able to protect him so well. I know all of Dipper’s secrets, even the ones he wishes I didn’t.”

“Yes, it’s a wonderful existence. But that still doesn’t help us when we leave here.” Dipper frowned as he tried to think through the problem. An important detail came to him. “Actually, well...Ford knows, too. I told him the other day before this whole mess began.”

“Dipper!” Mabel was aghast. _He wants to be called Dipper, we call him Dipper, I guess_ , had been the family rule for as long as she could remember. There had been a lot of apologies and occasional silent treatments as she was getting used to it. For him to tell not one person, but two people in the same week was unprecedented. “Well, ok, but how many people do you need to tell? At what point is the secret shared enough to no longer trap you?”

Soos coughed politely.

“I believe I know the answer to that. The wise teachers of Saturday Mornin’ Learnins told us that The Magic Number Is Three!”

“Soos, that’s it!” Mabel laughed. Soos was always good for an obscure hail mary save. “And if he tells us all, he’s way past that. Do the honors, Dipper.”

Treating this moment as a solemn ceremony, Dipper stood in the center of the whole group. He cleared his throat and announced, “Hello, I’m Mason. Nice to meet you all.” Soos, Wendy, Craz, and Xylar all moved forward to shake his hand, as though they were meeting him for the first time.

As soon as the last handshake was complete, any last vestiges of the headache from fighting off Bill’s control disappeared.

“It worked.”

“You sure?” The magic was Dipper's and Bill's, and had nothing to do with her, so she couldn’t feel it.

“I’m sure. Everyone ready to go? Can we blow this pop stand yet?”

“Let’s get the heck out of here already!” Wendy sounded practically desperate.

Mabel grinned at them, full of sass and dance moves.

“Back to life! Back to REALITY!”

As she sang the last note, everything around them seemed to melt and sag. Elements of the landscape and the other inhabitants of the land who had remained neutral during the confrontation with Bill likewise turned against them. The land was now entirely hostile, and they needed to get gone.

Everyone piled on Waddles’ back, as the pig ran for the hills. Spying a giant knitting needle, Mabel grabbed it. Waddles jumped for the horizon, and with a triumphant shout, Mabel pierced the bubble. With a great crash, they fell to the ground of the solid reality of Gravity Falls-- Weirdmageddon, already in progress.

Mabel, seeing what the town looked like under Bill’s rule, gaped.

“Oh boy,” was all she could muster.

Dusting themselves off, they made their way to the Mystery Shack.

 

* * *

  
By unspoken agreement, all communal processing of what had occurred in Mabeland was postponed until after Weirdmageddon was over and the town was safe again.

That was fine. In their own ways, Soos, Wendy, Dipper, and Mabel were all well practiced at sublimating and waiting to deal with their emotions when it was convenient. (Some might laugh at hearing that said of Mabel, but they’d be wrong. They just have no concept of how much she felt at any given time, and how carefully she parceled out processing and expressing things.)

The night after the town defeated Bill, Mabel and Dipper were curled up in a pillow fort in their room. They could hear Stan and Ford watching old home movies in the living room, trying to recover Stan’s memories. Mabel sent a wish out to the universe that they would finally be able to forgive each other and rebuild. She realized she had her own twin-related bruises to tend to.

“I’m really glad you’re here and you’re safe, Dipper. I’d understand if you wanted to stay and be Grunkle Ford’s apprentice. You shouldn’t have to be in a magical world to follow your heart’s desire. You have my blessing.”

Dipper was so quiet and still, Mabel worried he’d been asleep for her confession. Finally, he stirred, drawing and releasing a long breath.

“I’m not taking the apprenticeship. But thank you.”

“What? Why not?”

“I don’t want to be in a basement lab until college-- if Ford would even think any college would be good enough for me by then. I’m not ready to be up to my elbows in weird all year long. I also just still need you. We may go crazy over different things, but we ground each other and all that other twin junk. I’m not ready to give that up yet.”

“Oh, Dipper. You’re never going to be rid of that. At my farthest, I’ll only ever be a phone call or text message away. But I’m glad you’re coming home. 8th grade would have been the _worst_ without you. And all of high school, to be honest.” Mabel was quiet for a moment. “Did I tell you I aged myself up, too? Just to try it?”

“What! No!”

“I didn’t like it much.”

“I’m going to be taller, aren’t I?” Dipper didn’t even try to keep the smug out of his voice.

“Augh!” Mabel punctuated her response with a well-aimed pillow to Dipper’s face, and a pillow fight for the ages ensued. When Stan and Ford came up later to see what all the racket had been, they were curled up asleep in the ruins of a dozen pillows.

 

* * *

 

While the Shack was being decorated for the twins’ birthday party, Wendy looked for Dipper. She finally found him sitting on the roof watching the clouds float over the trees.

“Hey. Mind if I join?” Wendy plopped down on the other side of the cooler next to him.

“Not at all. There’s drinks if you want.” Dipper was hoping she couldn’t hear his heart racing. It was the first time she’d talked to him alone since they’d returned to Gravity Falls. He felt guilty over how difficult he was finding it to reconcile the real Wendy with the manifestation he’d let himself believe in. Self recrimination only got you so far when you thought fondly about the stuff you felt guilty for. Ugh, he was getting caught in that thought loop again.

Wendy leaned over to grab a soda and popped the top. She took a sip, then a deep breath, then put the can down. Each movement seemed to have a weight to it that didn’t suit her casual nature.

“Are we cool?” This question caught Dipper entirely off guard. He felt like he should be the one asking that. “I only ask because you’ve kinda been avoiding me? I didn’t want to start any potentially heavy conversations until everything was back to normal. Well, what passes for normal here.”

“I wanted to give you your space. You really went through the ringer. Mabel told me what happened when she rescued you, what you saw. Don’t get mad at her for telling me. She was having some trouble with it, and I wouldn’t leave her alone until she talked about it. You had enough to process, you didn’t need my baggage, too.”

Wendy took a thoughtful sip of her soda then put it down again.

“It’s weird, I’m not mad at you. I get it. I get how it happened, I even get _why_ it happened. To expect you to resist temptation when none of the rest of us did? That’s not fair. But then I go down the rabbit hole of what might have happened with you and a thing wearing my body-- no, don’t tell me--and I just...It’s the bunker incident but like a million times worse.” Wendy buried her face in her hands.

“Would it help if I told you it was shockingly little? Like, seriously. This is me we’re talking about.”

Wendy turned and looked at him through her hands and chuckled at that. “Kinda. Soos told me how you nearly stress vomited like a thousand times when you met Ford. I can’t imagine what you’d do faced with a real live girl.”

“Hey now! I acquitted myself admirably! Just not...extensively.” Dipper felt a tightness in his chest loosen. If she was teasing him, maybe she really meant it when she asked if they were okay again. “I truly am sorry, Wendy. No one should be impersonated by a supernatural being even once, and now it’s happened to you twice. I should have been more aware of what was going on. It’s not like I didn’t know I was going to be tested, and it’s not like I couldn’t have anticipated the form it would take.”

“Thanks, dude. I know you’re feeling rough over this, too. It’s just gonna take me a while-- and I mean like, a _while_ \-- to trust anything again. Not even what just happened with you. What happened to all of us.”

“I know. Hey, at least you get to recover with a town full of people who get it. Mabel and I are going back to Piedmont. If we try and talk about it to anyone there...eesh. Bad scene. I foresee a lot of video chats back here.”

“That’s true.” Wendy considered this further. “Heh, I feel better already! C’mon, let’s go down and see if they need any more help setting up.” Dipper eyed Wendy warily.

“You want to help? Do things?”

“Oh please, they finished ten minutes ago. I just want to get a peek at the cake Mabel made.”

“Jeez, you scared me there for a minute!”

“Ha! Dude, you should have seen your face!”

Laughing together, Dipper helped Wendy stand up, and they made their way down to the front of the Shack. Guests were already arriving.

It was going to be a good birthday, and a good year.

**Author's Note:**

> I have been working on this for so long. Like, August of 2016 long.
> 
> I'd like to thank God, and also Wellbutrin. Actually, just Wellbutrin.
> 
> Thanks go to @equilibriumgirl for basically holding my hand through the entire fic as well as betaing, and @dorkilysoulless for the same.
> 
> Extra shoutouts go to Constantine The Frog for betaing for a stranger. Thanks, kind stranger!
> 
> Playlist for this fic:
> 
> "Harlem Roulette" - The Mountain Goats  
> "Anything for You" - Ludo  
> "I Wish I Was The Moon" - Neko Case  
> "She Knows" - John Fullbright  
> "Furr" - Blizten Trapper  
> "Unsingable Name" - Mike Doughty  
> "Waiting For My Real Life To Begin" - Colin Hay  
> "Despite What You've Been Told" - Two Gallants  
> "Cover Me Up" - Jason Isbell  
> "I Can't Help Falling In Love" - Eels, Live at Royal Albert Hall  
> "The Swimming Song" - Vetiver


End file.
